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Does Aloe Vera Help Acne?

Are you looking for a natural way to treat your acne without having to resort to prescription medication or harsh chemicals? Does your skin feel irritated and inflamed from all the chemicals in traditional skin treatments? Wondering if aloe vera can clear acne breakouts and heal scarring?

As a natural ingredient, aloe vera can assist in the healing process of the skin while minimizing the adverse effects that are normally seen with other forms of treatment. In this article we will explore how aloe vera effects the skin barrier, if it is a suitable treatment for acne, and other natural alternatives to clear your skin.

The Basics of Aloe Vera

Aloe vera is a succulent plant that has been used for centuries to treat various skin conditions. The plant is native to Africa but can now be found in tropical climates worldwide. Due to its widespread popularity, it’s now cultivated on a larger scale, and the gel from the plant’s leaves is harvested for use in various commercial products.

Its therapeutic properties are attributed to the fact that it contains a range of vitamins, minerals, and amino acids. Aloe vera is also rich in compounds like polysaccharides and glycoproteins, which have anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial properties. This makes aloe a great candidate for treating open acne wounds.

Other active ingredients in aloe vera include salicylates, which have acne-fighting properties, and lupeol, which can help to reduce inflammation. Both of these compounds can help to soothe the skin and promote healing.

How Can Aloe Vera Help with Acne?

While aloe vera can’t completely cure acne, it is effective in managing some of the symptoms associated with the condition. Thanks to its healing properties, it has the ability to:

Reduce Inflammation

When the skin is inflamed, it’s more susceptible to developing acne. This can be a direct result of numerous factors like excess bacteria, build-up of dead skin cells, and exposure to the elements. It may manifest as redness, swelling, and tenderness of the skin.

Aloe vera has anti-inflammatory properties that can help to soothe the skin and help manage the symptoms of various inflammatory skin conditions, including acne. The plant’s gel contains a compound called gibberellin, which is known to help with redness and pimples.

Minimize Scar Formation

Acne can often lead to scars and uneven skin texture throughout the affected area. This happens when the inflammation associated with acne causes the breakdown of collagen, which leads to the formation of scars. The less collagen produced, the more likely it is for scars to form.

Aloe vera may help promote the production of collagen, which can, in turn, minimize the formation of scars. The plant’s gel contains compounds like vitamin C and E, as well as other antioxidants known to stimulate collagen production. Skin serums and creams that contain these compounds are often used to fade the appearance of scars and improve skin texture. However, thoroughly check the ingredients as many of these products contain comedogenic products that can worsen acne.

Control Sebum Production

Sebum is an oily substance produced by the sebaceous glands in the skin. Sebum oil contains triglycerides, wax esters, and free fatty acids. When sebum oil is overproduced, it can mix with dead skin cells and block the pores. This can lead to blackheads, whiteheads, and eventually, cystic acne breakouts.

To help control sebum production, aloe vera can be used as a natural astringent. This means it helps cleanse the pores and remove excess oil from the skin without stripping it of its natural moisture. If it’s used regularly, it may keep the pores clear and help to prevent the formation of pimples.

Assist Acne-Treating Medication

When used in combination with other acne treatments, aloe vera can help to improve the efficacy of the medication. This is largely because aloe has antimicrobial properties, which help kill the bacteria that cause or worsen acne.

It also can penetrate the skin and help deliver active ingredients deep into the dermis. This process, it can help to increase the absorption of the acne-treating medication and improve its overall efficacy.

Be careful not to use too much aloe vera gel, as this can increase the risk of skin irritation. If you’re using other acne treatments, it’s best to layer the products and allow each one to dry before applying the next. 

Manage Hyperpigmentation

Hyperpigmentation is a condition where patches of skin become darker than the surrounding area. It can result from sun damage, inflammation, or other conditions. It’s not necessarily harmful but can be a cosmetic concern for many people.

Though the use of tinted creams and make-up can help to cover up the affected areas, aloe vera may also be effective in managing hyperpigmentation from the inside out. The plant’s gel contains compounds like aloin and emodin, which have been shown to help lighten the skin. 

Though the uneven skin tone associated with hyperpigmentation can take some time to fade, regular use of aloe vera can speed up the healing process. Sometimes, visible results can be seen in as little as two weeks.

When using aloe vera for hyperpigmentation, it’s important to apply it to the affected area only. This will help to prevent further irritation and skin lightening of the surrounding area.

How to Use Aloe Vera

There are numerous ways that you can use aloe vera to help manage your acne. Using it topically is often the most effective method, as it allows the plant’s gel to be directly applied to the skin.

If you have an aloe vera plant at home, you can simply cut off a leaf and extract the gel from the inside. Once you have the gel, apply it directly to the affected area and leave it on for about 20 minutes before rinsing it off with warm water.

You can also purchase aloe vera-based cleansers and creams from the store. When using these products, read the label carefully to ensure that they don’t contain any ingredients that could potentially irritate your skin. Fragrance-free and non-comedogenic products are often the best options for people with acne-prone skin.

Make sure to avoid physical scrubs, regardless of their ingredients, as they can further irritate the skin and cause microtears. Using a chemical peeling gel or AHA/BHA toner can be a gentler way to exfoliate the skin without causing any irritation. But even then, use these products no more than 2-3 times a week to avoid over-exfoliating the skin.

When using aloe vera for acne, it’s important to start slowly and see how your skin reacts. Do a patch test on a small skin area first to see if you experience any irritation. If you don’t, you can gradually increase the frequency and duration of your applications. The goal is to find a balance that works for you, without disturbing your skin’s natural barrier function.

It’s also important to remember that aloe vera alone is unlikely to completely clear your acne. In most cases, it’s best used with other acne treatments, such as Benzoyl peroxide, salicylic acid, or retinoids. Be sure to speak with a dermatologist about the best way to incorporate aloe vera into your overall acne treatment plan.

In any case, aloe vera is a versatile and effective natural remedy that can be used to help manage breakouts. By incorporating it into your regular skincare routine, you may see a noticeable improvement in your skin’s appearance over time.

Need more help? Ask our team!

I’ve helped over 2,500 people clear their acne naturally. If you cannot easily find an answer to your question on the website, please reach out to me by email ([email protected]) or send me a message on Instagram or Twitter. I will reply within 24 hours.

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sam wood is GoodGlow's Chief Editor
Analyzed by Sam Wood
Hi I’m Sam Wood. I’m the chief editor, lead acne expert, and health coach behind GoodGlow. I’m also an author of one of the top selling acne books on Amazon, a husband, father of two, and a pretty good cook!

I’m so glad you found GoodGlow and hope the information I have spent the last 10 years cultivating will help you clear your skin and improve your overall health.

I began experiencing acne breakotus as a sophomore in high school, but unlike most of my friends, my acne actually got worse as I got into my 20s. I exercised regularly, ate healthy (or so I thought) and spent hundreds of dollars a month on high end skincare products and supplements to help clear my skin. Despite these measures my acne breakouts and scarring only got worse as the years wore on.

This greatly wore on my self confidence and mental health. Simple things like taking pictures or going out with a large group made me feel self conscious. So I avoided these situations whenever I could help it.

As a last ditch effort I decided to try an extremely restrictive diet recommended by a close friend with an autoimmune disease. After following this diet for about two months my skin started to clear for the first time in over 8 years. The good news is that this restrictive diet is not actually necessary for 99% of people to permanently clear their skin, and over the course of a few months I was able to add back about 90% of my “normal diet”.

After clearing my skin I spent the next 4 years self experimenting on myself with different diets, supplements, skincare products to try and find a pattern for what was triggering my acne breakouts. I even tried different meditation, ice baths, and accupuncture to try and isolate the root cause of the breakouts.

In the end I realized that an extremely restrictive diet was not necessary for clear skin. The most important thing to do is to avoid inflammatory foods in your diet. Some common examples of this are fried foods, alcohol, sugar, and dairy.

Most impoirtantly I stopped reading trendy websites for skincare advice and began reading medical journals authored by dermatologists and nutritionists. Although the information in the articles was great the information was not easily understandable to most readers (including me). I spent hours dissecting individual posts and looking up terms I did not understand. Over the next 6 months I gradually began to understand these journals and started self experiemting some of the research on myself.

After experiencing quite a bit of success personally, I started sharing my research on forums and with close friends struggling with acne. When I shared the research it was in easy to understand, plain English. Everyone I talked to loved what I had to say and kept asking more and more questions. So I decided to start a blog so I could just send someone a link when they asked a question instead of rewriting something I had sent 100 times before 😅

While the same directional principles apply to everyone, acne is very personal and should be treated on an individual basis. That’s ultimately why I created GoodGlow. To help everyone reverse engineer the root cause of their acne and clear their skin permanently.

To date I’ve helped over 2,500 people clear their skin using a natural, holistic approach. If you are unable to find an answer to your question in any of the articles my team has written please reach out and I will do my best to guide you to the proper information and resources so you can make a thoughtful, informed decision. Read more of Sam's articles.

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